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This year's winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature will be announced Thursday by the Swedish Academy. NPR's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg talks with Michael Gorra, professor of English at Smith College. Gorra theorizes that Nobel Prizes for Literature are given in cycles to vary those of different genres, abilities and geographical areas.

A manuscript donated to the Library of Congress sheds new light on the last days of Nathan Hale, an American spy hanged by the British during the American Revolution. Penned by a writer sympathetic to the British, the document suggests Hale inadvertently revealed his mission to a British spy. Hale was executed on Sept. 22, 1776. Hear James Hutson of the Library of Congress.

A sign in Springfield, Mass. warns young Latinos: "No Hangear" -- don't hang out on this corner. Spanglish -- a cross between Spanish and English -- it seems, is everywhere. NPR's Bob Edwards talks with Ilan Stavans, author of a new book, Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language. Hear a Spanglish translation of Don Quixote.

Theologian Elaine Pagels has written Beyond Belief, The Secret Gospel of Thomas. The text of the gospel, discovered in 1945 in Egypt, paints a different vision of Jesus than do the Gospels that made it into the official biblical canon. Pagels speaks with NPR's John Ydstie.

Dutch architect and Pritzker Prize laureate Rem Koolhaas's first U.S. project opens to the public Saturday in Chicago. The student center at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) campus has bright orange glass and a stainless steel tube on top that the Chicago elevated train passes through. Edward Lifson of Chicago Public Radio reports.

The new novel The Great Fire is the first work of fiction from Australian expatriate Shirley Hazzard since 1980. The story is set in Japan just after the end of World War II. Alan Cheuse has a review.

The line-up of new television shows for the fall season is heavy on sitcoms and light on reality TV -- a departure from the trend of the past few years. Hear USA Today television critic Robert Bianco.

Comedian Whoopi Goldberg is known for her blunt take on race issues, and her new sitcom, Whoopi -- which premieres Tuesday -- is no exception. The show features British-Iranian actor Omid Djalili, who makes comic hay out of everything from ethnic profiling to bombs -- dicey topics in the post-Sept. 11 era. NPR's Neda Ulaby speaks with Djalili.

This summer, Warner Home Videos released four restored Charlie Chaplin classics on DVD -- The Gold Rush, Modern Times, The Great Dictator and Limelight. The biggest challenge restorers faced was in deciding which versions of Chaplin's films were authoritative. Howie Movshowitz of Colorado Public Radio reports.

Entertainer Gregory Hines, a marvelous dancer, Tony-winning stage actor and film star, has died of cancer, his publicist says. Hines was 57. His 1992 Broadway success in Jelly's Last Jam was a highlight of a sparkling career. Hear an NPR News report.